Overview: Tools and techniques for software development tend to focus on individual products. However, most development organizations must create a product line – a portfolio of closely related products with variations in features and functions – rather than a single product. This mismatch has led to the emergence of software development methods, tools and techniques, focused specifically on the challenges of software product line development.

Early software product line case studies at the genesis of the field (such as those presented by Paul Clements a year ago at this forum) revealed some of the best software engineering improvement metrics seen in four decades. The latest generation of software product line success stories exhibits even greater improvements, extending benefits beyond product creation into maintenance and evolution, lowering the overall complexity of product line development, increasing the scalability of product lines, and enabling organizations to make the transition to software product line practice with up to 100x less time, cost and effort.

In this presentation, Charles Krueger from BigLever Software will explore the new methods behind the latest generation of software product line success stories. The audience will learn advanced, yet very pragmatic, methods that are proving successful in recent real-world implementations.

About the Speaker: Dr. Charles Krueger is the founder and CEO of Austin-based BigLever Software, a leading provider of software product line development tools and services. At BigLever, he has helped companies establish some of the industry's most highly acclaimed software product line practices, such as Austin startup Salion, 2004 Software Product Line Hall of Fame inductee, and Engenio (a division of LSI Logic that also has an Austin presence), elected nominee for the 2005 Software Product Line Hall of Fame.

Dr. Krueger is a thought leader in software product line development, with 20 years of experience in the field. He is the author of over 25 articles, including the widely referenced ACM Software Reuse, the invited Point-Counterpoint column in the 2002 IEEE Software Special Issue on Software Product Lines, and numerous publications at the International Software Product Line Conferences. He co-chaired the 2004 International Conference on Software Reuse, is a frequent organizer and speaker for the International Software Product Line Conferences, and moderates the community website SoftwareProductLines.com. He received his PhD in computer science from Carnegie Mellon University.